Tag Archive for: talent

Air Force cyber wing looking for new ways to recruit, keep top talent

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Amid a global competition for cyber experts, one Air Force wing is looking at new and different ways to recruit and retain service members with the right know-how.

Attracting and maintaining top talent is becoming even more critical as the Air Force must provide six additional cyber mission force teams on behalf of U.S. Cyber Command.

“I would anticipate CMF growth, continuing through the years. We know we probably don’t have the capacity [that] we likely really need,” Col. Sean Kern, commander of 67th Cyberspace Wing, told DefenseScoop in a December interview.

The cyber mission force began building in 2012, with an end goal of 133 teams. The Department of Defense did not add to that number for several years after those groups reached full operational capability in 2018. Starting with the fiscal 2022 budget, Cybercom was authorized funding to augment the CMF, which consists of the offensive, defensive and support teams that the military branches provide to the command to conduct cyber operations. Now, the plan is to increase the capacity to 147 teams over the next five years or so.

The six additional Air Force teams —a total of 264 airmen spanning two offensive teams, two defensive teams and two support teams — that will be added to the CMF, will be built with a phased approach. The first three will start forming in 2024. They’re scheduled to reach initial operational capability 18 months after establishment and full operational capability 18 months after IOC — setting them up to be fully ready by 2027. The next slate of teams will begin building in 2025, with the expectation that they’ll be fully ready by 2028.

“Imagine already presenting, trying to present 1,715 [personnel and] add 264 in a pretty difficult mission area to bring talent into,” Kern said of his position right now.

However, officials across the DOD have consistently maintained that recruiting new talent for the cyber mission force is not the main problem — it’s retention. With lucrative pay opportunities in the private sector, it has been a struggle to keep the experts the military has spent millions of dollars and several years to train.

Kern is looking at…

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Attracting the Right Talent Requires the Right Story

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The-Right-Talent-the Right-Story

A recent article in Forbes Magazine by HYPR’s CEO Bojan Simic discussed the cybersecurity skills gap and how practitioners and executives can address the technical workforce shortages. While that article highlighted why and how companies should look beyond current job experience, this post looks holistically at how to attract talented people. It highlights what we do at HYPR to attract and retain our talented team members from a more personal approach.

AppSec/API Security 2022

Seven years ago I met our (now) CEO for the first time. Back then, HYPR resembled an aspiring rock band. It had all the elements needed for success, and a sound that was different yet relatable to all who heard it. Throughout my career, I’ve either been recruiting for or selling enterprise software, mostly within the Information Security industry. I’ve been involved with launching some great technology, and have met some extraordinary people that I now call friends. However, little did I know that initial meeting with Bojan would eventually land me here at HYPR, working with some of the best people I’ve ever known.  

Come for the Tech, Stay for the Team

One of the major reasons I was drawn to HYPR was, of course, the innovative technology. The sheer economic advantage of our approach makes it an obvious choice for anyone who logs into a computer, web or mobile application. We’ve found a way to easily and completely get rid of passwords and finally fix the way the world logs in — and HYPR delivers. Beyond the technology though, I quickly discovered that HYPR was so much more than a tech company. 

Within my first days, I realized HYPR embodies dedication to a level I had never experienced. Dedication to what we build, dedication to our customers, dedication to each other, to having fun, to being transparent, to being empathetic, to doing it over and over again. It’s not just Engineering or Sales, or Marketing or Operations for that matter. It’s each and every person within each and every team. Yes there are challenges, but people go above and beyond to meet them together. This matters. It also raises a question — why and how do some companies go above and beyond and others don’t or can’t?

Telling the…

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There is a cybersecurity talent gap across the US. Here’s what to put on your résumé to a land high-paying job in the industry.

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“There certainly is a talent gap in the United States,” Kevin Bordlemay, senior manager of talent acquisition at computer security firm Mandiant, told Insider. “There is by no means enough talent to fulfill the roles that are out there.”

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Hacking the Army’s tech talent problem

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Army Spc. Majid Lowe didn’t know anything about the Army Software Factory until a superior in his infantry unit brought it to his attention. “He came in one day and said I was wasting my time…and told me that I needed to apply or I was going to be very unhappy,” Lowe said.

His journey to become part of the Army Software Factory’s first cohort wasn’t straightforward. His career started with a stint as a cybersecurity specialist. “I did network audits,” Lowe told FCW. “I would go to the client [and] I would run some scans and try to break some things and [say]: ‘Hey, here’s what I got into. Here’s what I didn’t get into.’ And then I would leave. It wasn’t the most fulfilling job, but again it afforded me a lot of free time because the job didn’t take a whole lot of time, so that was great.”

In 2017, he went on a six-month motorcycle camping trip with his father, who was in the Marine Corps. Lowe originally intended to join the Army’s Special Forces, but an injury sidelined those dreams, and after his father’s death, he decided to enlist as an infantryman. 

“In early 2018, I lost my dad, and when that happened, I realized I don’t want to have regrets when my time comes to meet whatever maker we might have,” Lowe said. 

Because of his background in cybersecurity and his experience as a junior enlisted infantryman, Lowe came into the software factory with ideas for bringing automation into daily operations, such as scheduling and deconflicting Army activities.

Finding hidden tech talent

Lt. Col. Vito Errico, co-director of the Army Software Factory, told FCW that he believes there is “mislabeled or underutilized, hidden tech talent already inside an organization of about 485,000 people. We’ve got combat medics who are completely self-taught in fields of platform engineering, but…the recruiter pushed them toward more traditional Army disciplines…. And so if you take all of those what I would call tech misfits and sort of put them in one place and organize them and resource them properly, we think you could do something pretty magical.”

The software factory is now training its second cohort of in-house “tech misfits.” Co-Director Maj. Jason Zuniga said: “Over the past year, it’s been…

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